On 3rd and 4th of June the helicopters disturbed the peace and quiet of life in the Kaimanawa Ranges as they herded the horses from the places they called home, to the yards where they were sorted and loaded onto trucks. What a frightening experience for them!
From there they arrived at various distribution yards, where they were assigned homes. Many lucky North Islanders collected or took delivery of their new horses; for those of us in the South Island the horses were sent to handlers to be introduced to the basics of domesticity, before we were able to have them sent down here, this being a DoC prerequisite.
And so we wait ...
I figure that after the involved process of applying to purchase and getting a Home Check on the property done, the further wait of 4-6 weeks is merely a time for planning, so am now reasonably patient - something unusual for me! We are in the process of building a handling yard anyway, plus I am still fostering some horses for the SPCA until their court case in early July, and really want to have them rehomed before my Kais arrive.
In the meantime I have spoken with the handler twice for progress reports, and received an email with some photos attached of when they arrived at his yards. Errrr, yes, that was plural - I'm purchasing two!!!
I requested a filly weanling and a yearling colt (to be gelded), and have actually had allocated to me a black filly yearling, and a bay 3-4yo colt.
So far, the filly is coming along nicely and proving to be a quick thinker; the colt rather more challenging, so we decided to try to get some handling into him then decide about gelding him.
Right now, I'm counting the days off on the calender as next Monday I fly up to meet them, and fly home Tuesday night, so will have lots of time to start some bonding and hopefully do some handling as well... or maybe I'll be on mucking out duty!!! :-)
From there they arrived at various distribution yards, where they were assigned homes. Many lucky North Islanders collected or took delivery of their new horses; for those of us in the South Island the horses were sent to handlers to be introduced to the basics of domesticity, before we were able to have them sent down here, this being a DoC prerequisite.
And so we wait ...
I figure that after the involved process of applying to purchase and getting a Home Check on the property done, the further wait of 4-6 weeks is merely a time for planning, so am now reasonably patient - something unusual for me! We are in the process of building a handling yard anyway, plus I am still fostering some horses for the SPCA until their court case in early July, and really want to have them rehomed before my Kais arrive.
In the meantime I have spoken with the handler twice for progress reports, and received an email with some photos attached of when they arrived at his yards. Errrr, yes, that was plural - I'm purchasing two!!!
I requested a filly weanling and a yearling colt (to be gelded), and have actually had allocated to me a black filly yearling, and a bay 3-4yo colt.
So far, the filly is coming along nicely and proving to be a quick thinker; the colt rather more challenging, so we decided to try to get some handling into him then decide about gelding him.
Right now, I'm counting the days off on the calender as next Monday I fly up to meet them, and fly home Tuesday night, so will have lots of time to start some bonding and hopefully do some handling as well... or maybe I'll be on mucking out duty!!! :-)
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